A Winter's Night
by DarkSkies
Summary: King Arthur and his knights, while on their final mission, discover two girls locked up, almost dead. Arthur and Lancelot soon begin to find there is more to the girls than meets the eye.
1. Prologue

Prologue

When all is done  
At Badon Hill  
And the woads stand back  
And look at their kill

When two more knights  
Courageous and brave  
Have now joined Dagonet  
In his cemetery grave

Now the Saxons have been defeated  
The battle lost and won  
The knights still have their freedom  
What's to be done?

REWIND.  
What if any of this had never happened?  
What if it had been different?  
What if two girls had been found in that room North of the Wall?

Or would the story still have the same ending?

It was so cold that day. The knights had all approached their destination north of the wall. They had fought the woads to get there, and now had to make sure the Pope's favourite God child, Alecto, arrived back safely, to gain their freedom. Freedom that, by right, belonged to them already.

The people, packed in their carriages or on foot, were now restless and waiting to go. Alecto was packed up safely in a carriage with his father, who, unwillingly, has agreed to come back to the wall. All the knights were ready to go. They could almost taste their freedom.

Suddenly, the drums sounded. Loud, thumping drums. Marching drums. A sound so loud that it could only be made by the march of thousands. Thousands close at hand. Many of the knights were murmuring to each other. Tristan, for one, was keen to make a quick getaway.

But Arthur, their leader, seemed distracted. Two of Marius' mercenaries were bricking up a door. Everybody there knew there was something wrong, but fearing or their own lives, no one dare say.

Arthur called Dagonet to his side, to break down the wall. There was more protest form the knights as the drums continued, and the snow fell heavier over the whole scene. Mercenaries shouted, trying to block the way, but no man with any ounce of wit would get between Dagonet and his axe.

A matter of seconds later, the wall was knocked down, and the door behind was being tried. On being told it was locked from the inside, Dagonet was called on again. With one kick, the door was down.

Arthur entered, followed by a few of the knights, and, unwillingly, a monk or two.

Flames lit the way as the knights climbed the slope down into the stone room…

_A/N: I know this is short, and the next chapter will be short too, 'cos I'm kind of new and this is my first story…sorry about the length._


	2. Chapter 1

The darkness and stench were overwhelming. Lancelot kept his sword to the back of the monk in front of him and urged him on, faster. Lancelot was becoming uncomfortable with the situation. What if they locked them back up while they were in here? What was behind this last corner?

He pushed the latter out of his mind. He had seen too many dreadful things in this world. What was behind this corner could be no worse than seeing one of your best friends die in battle, surely?

Suddenly, everything stopped. He guessed Arthur had stopped, forcing the line of people behind him to halt. Lancelot pushed his way forward to the front, slowly becoming aware of a sound somewhat like someone chanting prayers…

He had guessed right. There, in the centre of the room, stood Arthur. His eyes were alight with anger. Opposite him, stood the ugliest monk Lancelot had ever seen. He was shouting at Arthur, but Lancelot didn't quite catch what he said. Something about invading the holy temple…holy temple? That would explain the prayers, but… This looked more like a dungeon to him…

For the first time, Lancelot looked around. Everything became explained in an instant. This was a dungeon to him. Damn the Romans. Damn them all.

Decaying figures hung from the walls, tied and bound 'til the day their bones fell apart. More dead inside holes in the ground and around the room.

Arthur was giving orders. They were to check if any were still alive.

Lancelot bent down, and suddenly was aware of one of the monks behind him grabbing him. Whether it was his reflex, or whether he acted out of pure anger, he turned round and drove his sword straight into the guy. A small price to pay for all the suffering he had caused.

"There was a man of God!" the monk saying the prayers spoke.

"Not my God!" Lancelot was really angry now. He just wanted to get out of here. Even down here he could hear the heavy beat of the Saxon drums, and his nerves were beginning to get the better of him. The further he could put between him and the Saxons, and the quicker he could be on his way home, the better.

But nobody would disobey Arthur, and they all began to look around the room for any sign of life left.

It wasn't long before Dagonet had found a small boy inside a hole in the ground. He picked him up and lifted him out with words of "You must not fear me."

Lancelot knelt down and looked behind a cage door, and Arthur knelt next to him.

They guessed there were about five people in the cage altogether, three of which were dead. Behind the wall closest to Arthur, hid a girl in rags. It was clear to Lancelot already she was a woad. Lancelot wondered of all the woads he had killed in battle, and how they'd all died. He came to a decision that no man or woman, free and innocent should be left to die like this.

Lancelot's attention was diverted now to another girl sat in rags on his side behind the wall. Her heritage was not so easy to guess, although it was clear she knew the girl on the other side of the cage, as both looked from the knights to each other a lot.

Arthur handed Lancelot the lit torch he was carrying and cut down the front of the cage. Lancelot passed the torch to Gawain as Arthur picked up the woad girl. Lancelot picked up the other girl and carried her outside after Arthur.


End file.
